Tree Frog Forestry News

Daily Archives: March 14, 2016

Business & Politics

International trade minister hopeful after U.S. President Obama opens door to a deal

CBC News

March 12, 2016

Category: Business & Politics

Region: Canada

Canada’s international trade minister says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s official visit to Washington helped secure a “real breakthrough” in the contentious softwood lumber negotiations. “We have now managed to get the Americans to the table, we have managed to raise attention to this issue at the very highest levels,” Chrystia Freeland said in an interview with Chris Hall on CBC Radio’s The House. “We have the U.S. president announcing in the Rose Garden that he believes a deal can and must be done. That’s tremendous,” she said. “I don’t want to downplay to anyone the complexity — the fiendish complexity — of the softwood lumber issue [but] this was a real breakthrough,” she said.

Trudeau’s star power won’t solve softwood lumber dispute

By Barrie McKenna – THE FULL STORY IS ONLY AVAILABLE TO GLOBE AND MAIL SUBSCRIBERS

Globe and Mail

March 11, 2016

Category: Business & Politics

Region: Canada

It’s nice that Justin Trudeau has become the It Guy in Washington. For a couple of days, at least, Canada gets to bask in the warm glow of a U.S. official visit. Don’t be seduced by the back-slapping and the pomp. The U.S. spotlight will fade. Around Washington, all those Canadian flags have already been folded up and put back in storage. This week’s White House bromance glossed over an embarrassing blot on Canada-U.S. relations – the intractable softwood lumber dispute. …That’s a problem. Canada’s right to sell as much lumber as it wants in the United States – a country that doesn’t produce enough of its own – should not be in question. This is 2016, after all. The issue has been litigated four times since the early 1980s, and each time Canada has won, exonerated of illegally subsidizing its exports by various arbitration panels and agencies.

Opinion: Canadian forestry sector needs rebuilding

By Harry Nelson and Ngaio Hotte,

Vancouver Sun

March 11, 2016

Category: Business & Politics

Region: Canada

The Canadian forest industry is on the verge of another watershed moment. The Softwood Lumber Agreement has lapsed, while efforts are underway to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership, creating both opportunities to take advantage of new markets and growing fears about future trade actions from the United States, its largest trade partner. The weak Canadian dollar and rebound in the U.S. economy has raised the stakes for Canadian lumber producers looking to sell their products to American buyers….Each of these options could influence major shifts in the B.C. forest industry, where consolidation has hollowed out the middle class and led a few companies to control a large proportion of the forest resource. The U.S. forest industry has raised concerns about this consolidation, suggesting it is suppressing timber prices and hampering competition for wood.

National forest ‘generates £395m for Scotland every year’

Scotland TV News

March 14, 2016

Category: Business & Politics

Region: International

Scotland’s national forest generates £395m every year for the country’s economy, a new report says. The National Forest Estate supports 11,000 jobs in the forestry, timber and tourism industries, Forest Enterprise Scotland found. Around nine million visits are made to the estate every year, generating nearly £110m, the body reported. By comparison, the whisky industry is worth around £5bn to Scotland’s economy each year. Environment minister Dr Aileen McLeod said: “The National Forest Estate is certainly one of Scotland’s greatest natural assets. It is more relevant today than ever before as it provides so many different benefits to Scottish society.

Schweighofer plans to expand capacity in Kodersdorf

IHB – The Timber Network

March 14, 2016

Category: Business & Politics

Region: International

Following the acquisition of the former Klausner Kodersdorf sawmill in October 2015, now Holzindustrie Schweighofer plans to expand capacity. Thus, Schweighofer will extend operations at the sawmill from two to three shifts, while the planing mill will operate in four shifts. To support this move, Schweighofer will add an extra 60 employees. Currently, Holzindustrie Schweighofer exports monthly around 5,000 to 6,000 m3 of lumber from Kodersdorf to Romania. There, the lumber is used for different processing purposes such as laminated wood, blockboard or glulam. The laminated wood is to a large extent exported to Japan, where it is used in house construction.

Wood, Paper & Green Building

From lodges to libraries, airports to bridges, even transit stations to park pavilions, some of Western Canada’s most impressive wood construction projects were recognized Tuesday evening at the 2016 Prairie Wood Design Awards. Wood WORKS! Alberta and the Canadian Wood Council showcased the efforts of industry-leading architects, engineers and project teams at the ninth annual awards gala. The Prairie Wood Design Awards program recognizes projects and organizations that utilize wood in construction project and advance its use through design excellence, advocacy, and innovation. Award recipients were presented with a customized wood trophy that signified their ability to push the boundaries of wood in construction.

As ash borer infestation spreads, communities consider what to do with trees

Duluth News Tribune

March 13, 2016

Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building

Region: US East, United States

As emerald ash borers munch their way ever further into the Northland, one fact seems certain: We’re going to lose a lot of trees. As emerald ash borers munch their way ever further into the Northland, one fact seems certain: We’re going to lose a lot of trees. …Brashaw contends: “There are also higher-value uses. When trees are harvested in log form, then you’re looking at things like veneer from really high-quality trees. You’re looking at saw logs that can be turned into lumber for things like flooring or furniture. Then you’re looking at smaller logs that could be used for industrial applications like pallets or crating. All of those have more value.”

Eurovast acquires Eurotec’s Fabbriche di Vallico tissue mill

EUWID Pulp and Paper

March 14, 2016

Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building

Region: International

Italy’s tissue paper and products manufacturer Eurovast has acquired Fabbriche di Vallico tissue mill near Lucca from the insolvent tissue company Cartiera Eurotec. According to the Bankruptcy Court of Lucca, Eurovast has won the bid for the production site and related assets at the auction in early March and will pay 650,000 €, which corresponds to the initial minimum bid. Cartiera Eurotec had acquired the Fabbriche di Vallico tissue mill from Wepa Lucca, a subsidiary of Germany’s Wepa Industrieholding, in February 2014. The mill houses one tissue machine with a production capacity of 20,000 tpy. Eurotec had to stop production in June 2015 due to financial difficulties and entered insolvency proceedings in September 2015.

Nordic pulp firms see future in turning birch trees into fashion

Reuters

March 14, 2016

Category: Wood, Paper & Green Building

Nordic pulp makers are developing clean ways to turn birch and pine trees into clothes or sofa covers to help revive their industry and meet demand from fashion and furniture firms for alternative textiles to cotton. There has been no Nordic production of viscose, the main textile fiber from timber, since the last manufacturer stopped nearly a decade ago, partly on environmental grounds. But a 2011 spike in cotton prices contributed to increased global demand for viscose and lyocell, the other major textile fiber from wood pulp. Production is dominated by Austria’s Lenzing, India’s Aditya Birla and South Africa’s Sateri. Three Nordic mills export dissolving pulp, the product that can be turned into textile fiber. The industry would like to see textile fiber factories set up at home that will meet environmental rules and appeal to local firms such as IKEA and Hennes & Mauritz which want to project a green image.

Forestry

Ministry of Forests announces plan to boost BC moose

My Cariboo Now

March 12, 2016

Category: Forestry

Region: Canada, Canada West

BC’s Ministry of Forests, Lands and Resource Operations says it plans to strengthen current moose management strategies as part of a move to modernize provincial wildlife management. Dave Fyfe is a guide outfitter and a member of the Wildlife Stewardship Council. He says the changes are long overdue. “There’s really been a failure of successive governments to acknowledge many of the concerns that are being voiced. And it’s not just guide outfitters. First Nations – the declining moose populations and other wildlife populations have clearly impacted their opportunities for sustenance hunting,” says Fyfe. “The Wildlife Stewardship Council is extremely supportive of this initiative. It’s been very apparent to all that there’s been a steady decline in moose populations and that decline has had broad cultural and social implications throughout the province.”

CVRD marathon: LNG, dirty dirt and forestry

Local News Eye Cowichan

March 13, 2016

Category: Forestry

Region: Canada, Canada West

With an agenda that called for decisions on LNG, forestry studies and contaminated soil monitoring, the Cowichan Valley Regional District’s monthly board meeting attracted plenty of onlookers March 9. …Finally, the board tackled the proposal by consultants Bob Williams, Fred Parker and Ray Travers to conduct an inventory and analysis of CVRD forests and to consult with First Nations, all with a price tag of $29,800. Williams was former minister of resources in the Barrett NDP government and later became chair of ICBC. Parker and Travers are forestry experts. The trio has made some presentations locally in recent months. …Dir. Phil Kent said he was concerned that approval would go against the purchasing policy which calls for tenders on most projects, adding that the project lacked a clear set of deliverables.

New members for McBride Community Forest board

The Rocky Mountain Goat News

March 12, 2016

Category: Forestry

Region: Canada, Canada West

Two new board members have been appointed to the interim board for the McBride Community Forest Corporation. Randy McFarland and Joseph Rich were appointed to two vacant seats on the board during its Feb 19th meeting. Mayor Loranne Martin says several members of the public have expressed their interest in becoming a director, and McFarland and Rich bring a wealth of forestry experience, local knowledge and business experience to the MCFC table. Both are also members of the advisory committee set up to help the board evaluate the potential deal to purchase volume from Carrier Lumber. Martin says Councillor Ralph Bezanson had indicated he wished to step down from the MCFC board, saying he wanted to have more public involvement and more knowledgeable members who are willing to move the community forest forward.

High numbers blamed on warmer weather patterns, increase in windstorms

CBC News

March 11, 2016

Category: Forestry

Region: Canada, Canada West

A plan to address the latest scourge on British Columbia’s forests — the spruce beetle — will include an extra $1 million in funding and the appointment of a spruce beetle project manager. Native to B.C. and a common forest pest that usually feeds on the inner bark of fallen or weakened trees, the spruce beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) becomes dangerous during serious and prolonged infestations, when it is capable of killing healthy trees. The current infestation has taken over 156,000 hectares of forest in the Omineca region of northern B.C., the largest outbreak since the 1980s and a huge increase from the 7,653 hectares affected in the last infestation in 2013.

For drones, the sky’s the limit in B.C.

March 14, 2016

Category: Forestry

Region: Canada, Canada West

It used to be to figure out what was going on in B.C.’s forests, foresters had the choice of walking into them and looking up from the ground, or hopping into a helicopter or airplane and looking down from high in the air. Enter unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly called drones. … The immediate payoff is that drone-captured images can give quick bird’s-eye assessments of whether logging in a particular block has gone well or whether replanting after harvesting has gone as planned. …In the evolution of drone technology in forestry, B.C. researchers and companies are on the leading edge of turning drone-captured imagery into high-value data for forest management. “It’s also the timeliness aspect, flying them when we want to, how we want to,” said Coops, the associate dean for research and innovation in UBC’s faculty of forestry, and a Canada research chair in remote sensing. So far, Coops said, the key use of drones in B.C. forests has been in evaluating the regeneration of recently replanted forests.

Spruce beetle outbreak strikes region’s forests

The provincial government has committed $1 million for the coming fiscal year and has assigned a resource manager to develop a plan to battle an outbreak of the spruce beetle in the Omineca region.

Overhead flight surveys have shown an increase in affected area to about 156,000 hectares today from 7,653 hectares in 2013, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Minister Steve Thomson said in a teleconference Friday with regional media.

So far, it’s been limited to the eastern valleys of the Mackenzie timber supply area and northern portions of the Prince George timber supply area but Thomson said it’s a cause for concern and the outbreak is being carefully monitored.

Nakusp Residents Hopping Mad over Logging in Toad Country

http://www.thetyee.ca/News/2016/03/12/Mad-Logging-Toad-Country/

March 12, 2016

Category: Forestry

Region: Canada, Canada West

Kiss the right frog, the fairy-tale has it, and you’ll get a prince. There’s no such reward promised for kissing a toad, yet both sides in an escalating dispute in southeastern B.C. claim to be fighting for the unlovely Western toad — a lumpy, mottled grey and brown amphibian of ”special concern” on Canada’s registry for species at risk. …It was True North’s decision to log the contested slopes. ”That area has been designated as a timber supply area by the province,” its project manager for the NACFOR contract, Frances Swan, told The Tyee by phone. ”We considered everything and decided that this was an area that we could develop for forest resources.” Last month, the B.C. government approved True North’s plan to ”develop” the toad’s habitat, and the company began road clearing in preparation for logging later this spring. This has outraged some of Nakusp’s citizens.

Looking for a practical use for the forestry resource in Grand Falls-Windsor

Grand Falls-Windsor Advertiser

March 14, 2016

Category: Forestry

Region: Canada East, Canada

Grand Falls-Windsor has a rich forest resource dormant since the closure of the mill seven years ago and now it could be the subject of a study. The Centre for Forest Science and Innovation has requested a meeting with council to discuss the possibility of doing the study. The centre is responsible for the development of forest-related research and science programs in the province. Mayor Barry Manuel said council is supporting the proposed study. …Since the closure of the mill, there have been all kinds of new technologies created, such as bio fuel. There may be an opportunity to use the resource to supply an industry like that, Manuel said. Council has also been talking about the possibility of producing wood pellets.

Insect outbreak can kill large area of forest

Chronicle Journal

March 12, 2016

Category: Forestry

Region: Canada East, Canada

A potentially “large-scale” outbreak of the spruce budworm is currently making its presence known in areas around New Liskeard, federal scientists say. “We’re at the start of an outbreak, and have a small infestation along the Ontario-Quebec border,” Canadian Forest Service scientist Chris MacQuarrie said this week from his Sault Ste. Marie office. The budworm, which chomps on spruce and other fir needles while in its caterpillar stage, is a pernicious insect normally found in Northern Ontario’s boreal forest. Outbreaks occur every 30 years or so and can last a few years. “During an outbreak, spruce budworm kills large areas of forest, resulting in significant consequences for the tourism and forest industries,” said a Natural Resources Canada news release.

After warning Oregon that its rules don’t adequately protect water in coastal streams from logging, two federal agencies are denying the state $1.2 million in grant funds. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sent a letter this week notifying the state’s natural resources director that Oregon hasn’t done enough to prevent pollution from forestry practices like logging and road building. The agencies first notified Oregon officials that they needed to tighten “non-point source” pollution regulations more than 15 years ago. The group Northwest Environmental Advocates sued the agencies in 2009 over their failure to enforce the Coastal Zone Management Act rules.

Oregon county makes good on $1.4 billion threat to sue state over logging

The Oregonian

March 11, 2016

Category: Forestry

Region: United States, US West

Linn County delivered on threats to sue over Oregon’s sagging timber harvests Thursday, filing a $1.4 billion class-action claim that accuses state officials of failing to promote logging on thousands of acres of forest land. The suit, filed in Linn County Circuit Court, seeks damages for 15 counties that rely on logging money to fund basic services. It also seeks money for dozens of special districts, including fire and library districts, that rely on county funding to operate. Linn County officials argue Oregon has violated a 1998 rule that requires the state to promote state forest lands’ “greatest permanent value.” By failing to maximize sustainable timber harvests over conservation goals, the suit says, the state has cost counties millions of dollars and broken a management contract that goes back decades.

Canyon Creek Wildlife Management Area could grow by 700 acres through donation

Helena Independent Record

March 13, 2016

Category: Forestry

Region: United States, US West

The Canyon Creek Wildlife Management Area northwest of Helena near Flesher Pass could grow by about 30 percent under a plan brought forward by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission on Thursday endorsed Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ request to complete analysis and public review on the more than 700-acre donation. The property is currently owned by Stimson Lumber Company and RMEF has a purchase option on the table. “It’s been for sale for some time and the biggest reasons we want to raise funds to protect and conserve the property are public access and the fish and wildlife values,” said RMEF Senior Lands Program Manager Mike Mueller. …RMEF has received a $250,000 commitment from the Montana Fish and Wildlife Conservation Trust and must continue raising funds to purchase the property, Mueller said.

Portland’s tree-protection rules are helping to kill trees (OPINION)

The Oregonian

March 13, 2016

Category: Forestry

Region: United States, US West

This past January, Oregon was named the most popular state to move to for the third year in a row. This comes as no surprise to Portlanders. For years, the city has been publicly grappling with managing an influx of new residents — and subsequent new homes — while maintaining Portland’s affordability and keeping its character intact. One factor at this pivotal time for Portland’s urban development? Preserving the hundreds of trees that make up the city’s idyllic neighborhoods. The reasonable solution does not involve climbing trees in protest. It also won’t be accomplished by preventing builder property purchases.

Groups sue to stop salvage logging in northern Idaho

Associated Press in the Idaho Statesman

March 11, 2016

Category: Forestry

Region: United States, US West

BOISE, Idaho A salvage logging project on a national forest near the Selway and Middle Fork Clearwater rivers in northern Idaho violates the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, two conservation groups say. Idaho Rivers United and Friends of the Clearwater on Friday filed a lawsuit in federal court against the U.S. Forest Service seeking to stop the project that aims to harvest about 34 million board feet of timber scorched by wildfire. The groups contend in the 36-page complaint that the Forest Service’s approval of the project violates the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act “Rather than follow its legal duty to protect the Wild and Scenic River corridor, the Forest Service is allowing significant degradation to occur without disclosing the true scope of the impacts to the public,” Kevin Lewis of Idaho Rivers United said in a statement.

Thin snow, early spring conditions put western Montana loggers out of woods

by Rob Chaney

Helena Independent Record

March 11, 2016

Category: Forestry

Region: United States, US West

MISSOULA — Wet, warm conditions are putting many loggers out of the woods as early spring breakup closes roads in western Montana. The Flathead National Forest imposed road restrictions on the Hungry Horse, Tally Lake and Swan Lake ranger districts Friday, two weeks after Flathead County placed similar limits on most of its rural roads. The rules prevent heavy equipment, such as logging trucks, from churning the dirt surfaces into impassible ruts. “This is a lot earlier than normal,” Kalispell logging company owner James Stupak said Friday. “Usually, we don’t start seeing this until the middle of March. This year, we were out in the third week of February.” Stupak said his two crews of 18 workers scrambled to finish logging projects this winter before the breakup got started. But even with the expedited schedule, Mother Nature provided more challenges.

Forestry income helps black landowners keep their property

The Post and Courier

March 13, 2016

Category: Forestry

Region: US East, United States

… In South Carolina, Vilsak was recognizing the successful and groundbreaking pilot project that the Center for Heirs’ Property Preservation conducted with funding from the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and the USDA Forest Service across seven counties in the Lowcountry. That work was a 30-month “African American Sustainable Forestry and Land Retention” (SFP) pilot project (2013-2015), which provided heirs’ property legal education and services and forestland management education, technical assistance, financial and program resources to 40 historically underserved rural landowners, who owned collectively 4,100 forested acres. .

The National Arboretum in Canberra is doomed to fail, thanks to years of mismanagement and poor planning, an Australian forestry expert has warned. The Arboretum has struggled to deal with hundreds of dying trees, which former forester Peter Marshall says is a problem caused by poor science and poor management. Mr Marshall said the arboretum had ignored basic science by planting trees too close together. “The arboretum is a wonderful concept. It’s visionary and exciting. But at the moment it’s a slow-motion train wreck and the future for it is grim,” he said.

Almost everything you buy, from cereal to mascara, is killing the rain forest

So I tried to give it all up. It was almost impossible.

The Washington Post

March 11, 2016

Category: Forestry

Region: International

I’m an environmentalist, and I try to make green choices. I take public transportation, recycle and program my thermostat. But the care and keeping of our forests always seemed far removed from my urban self. At least, it did until I visited a coffee farm in the Ecuadorian rain forest. There, I saw firsthand the way copper miners and loggers are destroying the natural environment. Forests cover 30 percent of the Earth’s land, but they’re disappearing fast. Companies and governments are converting green space into farms and developments; loggers are hacking away trees. Each year, about 50,000 square miles of tropical forests are cleared, the equivalent of 48 football fields a minute.

Forest industry excited to explore pine alternatives

NewstalkZB

March 12, 2016

Category: Forestry

Region: International

The forestry industry is excited about a new research scheme looking at alternatives to pine forests. The Specialty Woods Products Research Partnership is being jointly funded by the forestry industry and the government. It’s a seven year, 13 million dollar project which will look at using Douglas-fir and Eucalypts trees in areas not suitable for pine. Forest Owners Association research manager Russell Dale said they can’t have all their eggs in one basket by relying on pine. “So this program is designed to actually improve our knowledge and our capability to grow some other species in New Zealand.”

Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Opinion: Wood-burning revolt

March 14, 2016

Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Region: Canada East, Canada

In late February, I started an online petition against the use of forest biomass for power generation. As I write, over 26,000 people, from all across Canada and 28 countries, have signed. Nova Scotians, from Yarmouth to Cape Breton, support my call to end the use of forest resources for power generation. This petition has tapped into widespread dissatisfaction with the current ways of using our forest resources. …More than 3,000 people left comments to the premier explaining why they signed the petition. Many gave reasoned, scientific responses. From those who don’t live in Nova Scotia, there were comments like “Nova Scotia is trying to look like treeless Scotland” and “What are you leaving for the future generation of Nova Scotians — a totally barren wasteland?”

Studying the trees: MUN scientist looks to boreal forest for climate research

Trees in Newfoundland and Labrador may be doing a better job than anyone thought at pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. Why this is the case, however, is not clear. A research scientist at Memorial University, who has been studying how trees in Newfoundland and Labrador’s boreal forest are becoming more efficient at removing carbon from the atmosphere, is determined to find the answer. “The specifics of this program [are] really to investigate nutrient and carbon dynamics which tell us a lot about how forests will contribute, perhaps, to taking up carbon dioxide, or in fact, releasing it,” said Susan Ziegler, Canada Research Chair in Environmental Science at Memorial University,

Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand to seek to fly on biofuel

Techly

March 14, 2016

Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Region: International

Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand will seeking to reduce emissions from their jet fuel by moving towards locally-produced biofuel. The two aviation companies have teamed up to issue to the market an official Request for Information on aviation biofuels, to reduce carbon emissions, and to boost fuel security. Air New Zealand chief flight operations and safety officer Captain David Morgan says it is a key initiative under its carbon management programme. …There have been a number of test flights flying on fuels as diverse as used cooking oil, to coconut oil, but due to costs, haven’t been pursued.

‘Wood-pellet fuel emits more carbon than coal’: U.S. watchdog to probe shock claims on power giant Drax’s ‘green’ supplier

ThisIsMoney.co.uk

March 12, 2016

Category: Carbon, Climate & Bioenergy

Region: International

Britain’s biggest power station has been plunged into crisis by a bombshell complaint to America’s financial regulator over its biggest supplier of ‘green’ fuel. The complaint alleges that the supplier to the Drax plant in North Yorkshire, US group Enviva, used a loophole in EU and UK law to falsely claim to American investors that its wood-pellet fuel emits far less carbon dioxide than coal. It also attacks Enviva’s claims that its operations are ‘certified’ for ‘sustainability’. In fact, the UK body responsible for such certification – chaired by Dorothy Thompson, who is also chief executive of Drax – is still auditing Enviva.

General

Opinion: Wood-burning revolt

March 14, 2016

Category: Uncategorised

In late February, I started an online petition against the use of forest biomass for power generation. As I write, over 26,000 people, from all across Canada and 28 countries, have signed. Nova Scotians, from Yarmouth to Cape Breton, support my call to end the use of forest resources for power generation. This petition has tapped into widespread dissatisfaction with the current ways of using our forest resources. …More than 3,000 people left comments to the premier explaining why they signed the petition. Many gave reasoned, scientific responses. From those who don’t live in Nova Scotia, there were comments like “Nova Scotia is trying to look like treeless Scotland” and “What are you leaving for the future generation of Nova Scotians — a totally barren wasteland?”

For drones, the sky’s the limit in B.C.

March 14, 2016

Category: Uncategorised

It used to be to figure out what was going on in B.C.’s forests, foresters had the choice of walking into them and looking up from the ground, or hopping into a helicopter or airplane and looking down from high in the air. Enter unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly called drones. … The immediate payoff is that drone-captured images can give quick bird’s-eye assessments of whether logging in a particular block has gone well or whether replanting after harvesting has gone as planned. …In the evolution of drone technology in forestry, B.C. researchers and companies are on the leading edge of turning drone-captured imagery into high-value data for forest management. “It’s also the timeliness aspect, flying them when we want to, how we want to,” said Coops, the associate dean for research and innovation in UBC’s faculty of forestry, and a Canada research chair in remote sensing. So far, Coops said, the key use of drones in B.C. forests has been in evaluating the regeneration of recently replanted forests.